DCLG figures show inter-authority lending on the rise

Inter-authority lending in the UK rose by 22.9% during the past financial year, figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government reveal.
Updated statistics published this week show that loans made by councils to other councils or council-owned vehicles rose from £3.1bn at the end of 2012-13 to £3.8bn at the end of 2013-14.
In England, the rise was almost a quarter (24.9%), while Scotland saw a slight drop in such lending – down 1.8% from £93.1m to £91.4m.
Overall investments among UK councils stood at £36.1bn in March this year, up from £32.8bn at the end of the previous financial year, a rise of 10.1% over the year. These figures include money lent to other councils, whereas the DCLG does not count these figures in its definition of total local authority investment. The DCLG figures show a massive rise of 495% in money invested in Government gilts, rising from just £206.2m in 2012-13 to £1.2bn last year.
There was also a large rise (71.3%) in the total investments in Treasury bills from slightly over £1bn to £1.8bn.
Externally managed funds saw a smaller drop of 4% from £1.9bn to 1.8bn, while money market fund investments rose by 5.5% from £3.6bn to £3.8bn.
The category labelled “other investments” went up from £3bn to £3.2bn (up 6%).
In the smaller volume categories, there was a large rise of 144.7% in certificates of deposits (with banks) – up from £162m to £396m over the period, while investments in public corporations went up 28.1% from £155m to £199.9m.
The figures for borrowing showed a slight rise in the overall amount of outstanding debt of 1.6%, from £87.9bn to £89.3bn over the year.
The vast majority of this debt was in longer term loans. £62.8bn was taken out through the Public Work Loans Board, down 1.2% on the 2012-13 figure. A further £10.7bn was borrowed through longer term loans from banks down 4.3% on the previous year.
Longer term loans from private non-financial corporations rose by 872%, from £12.4m to £120.7m.
The shorter term loans market saw a rise in temporary loans from central government of 261% – up from £1.7m to £6.2m in April 2014.